[INTERVIEW] Singer G.NA

Interview with singer G.NA

Singer G.NA [Chae Ki-won/10Asia]

My name is G.NA. My real name is Choi Gina.
I was born in Canada on September 13, 1987 and lived in the city of Surrey located in Vancouver. My father passed away so my family is composed of my mother and younger sister. My sister was born in 1991 so she is 20 by Korean age...Oh my god! Already? It's unbelievable! The last time I saw her was when she was 17 years old.
Growing up, I learned many languages all at once. My grandfather is a former American soldier so he speaks English very well and one of my grandmother's parents is Japanese so I spoke in Korean, English and Japanese. That's why I speak in weird sentences like "I'm so 'dapdaphae.'" (laugh) I used to pronounce the word 'grandpa' in a weird way too so people around me told me the proper way to say it when I came to Korea.
Before I came to Korea to take part in auditions, I went to a karaoke room with my family but my grandmother was worried about me having a hard time following the lyrics to even very slow ballad songs. That's why for two months I learned Korean at JEI Learning Center and I wrote daily journal entries after coming to Korea.
The actual date of my debut was in 2002 when I sang the song "Wrongful Expectations" for the soundtrack to MBC's drama "Dangerous Man." The song's composer lived in Canada for a brief while and veteran singer Yoo Hyun-sang introduced me to him. He thought my voice matched the sadness of the song and I went to Korea to record the song.
The real reason why I joined the cheerleading squad was because the uniform was really pretty. I liked to wear my clothes low and loosely but my grandparents hated clothes that showed my belly button. But I could wear my cheerleading practice suit or my stage clothes because it was pretty and cheap! (laugh)
I used to receive vocal training and dance lessons with songstress Lim Jeong-hee and miss A's Min at JYP Entertainment's New York office. New York is very cold and a depressing place. Min was always out while I was always lost and confused because I couldn't tell the difference between avenues and streets. I was afraid to leave the house.
It felt awkward shooting the music video for song "I'll Back Off" with BEAST member Du-jun because we are so close. We had scenes where we touched each other and since I haven't been in a relationship in such a long time, I don't if I did a good job expressing my love. (laugh)
I shot the music video for "Black & White" with 2AM member Jinwoon and I was relieved because it was fun and the concept was great as well. Even though Jinwoon is younger than me he showed professionalism as a senior singer and he did a great job and shot it very fast. I also learned a lot from watching him.
My favorite singers are Yoon Mi-rae, Lena Park and Christina Aguilera. I honestly thought that my heart was going to jump out of my mouth when I recently met Lena Park. I gained a lot of strength from her songs and you can feel her music even though she can't speak Korean that well.
My chest is my advantage as well as my disadvantage. I can look glamorous if I wear something pretty but if I wear something wrong it can look like maternity clothes. It looks like I don't have a waist if I pull up my pants so I get stressed out a lot and worry about what I wear. I am really thankful of the people who are envious of me.
I remember reading a hateful comment that said "G.NA is dark like a farmer." Those comments were directed towards my look and not my songs and it was written on my Cyworld, fan websites and online message boards. Honestly...uhm, what they said isn't wrong but it still hurt. I worried thinking that I did something wrong or if I acted as if I was pretty.
But now, I've just decided to go with what I feel and fix on the areas that bother me and work really hard. I am working hard on taking on more activities such as appearing on variety shows and radio programs which I wasn’t able to do before because of my poor Korean. They may hate me at first but one will grow to like that person if they keep looking at them long enough.
I want to be able to be confident all the time rather than always look pretty. Just like what people say, "When you fall on stage make sure to fall with confidence and get up confidently," It's okay to ugly just as long as you're confident in doing so. (laugh)

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Reporter : Choi Ji-Eun five@
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@
Editor : Lucia Hong luciahong@, Jang Kyung-Jin three@